Indiana University Athletics
Women's Golf Gears Up For NCAA East Regional
5/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
May 6, 2008
Photo Gallery- May 6
Complete Release in PDF Format
NCAA EAST REGIONAL
May 8-10
University of Georgia Golf Course- Athens, Ga.
Tournament Field: Duke, Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Wake Forest, Tennessee, Virginia, New Mexico, Vanderbilt, Louisville, South Carolina, Furman, East Carolina, Georgia State, UCF, Missouri, Indiana, North Carolina-Wilmington, Jacksonville State, Charleston Southern, Jackson State
Course Information: University of Georgia Golf Course • Par 72 • 6,335
Results: golfstat.com (Live Scoring); IUHOOSIERS.com (post-tournament results)
SETTING THE SCENE
• Coming off a fourth-place finish at the Big Ten Championship, Indiana earned one of 63 spots in the NCAA Regionals, earning a spot as the No. 17 seed in the East Regional in Athens, Ga.
• Five players will compete with the top four scores from each round counting.
• IU is making it second-straight NCAA postseason appearance and its 14th Regional appearance since the formant was instituted in 1993.
• This is the current team's first trip to the par-72, 6,335-yard University of Georgia Golf Course.
• Twenty-one teams and three individuals each will compete in the East, West and Central Regionals. The top eight teams and the top three individual finishers who are not members of a top-eight team from each Regional will advance to the NCAA Championships at the University of New Mexico's Championship Course.
• The top 12 seeds will play in the first round's morning wave starting at 8:00 a.m. and the second at 12:30 p.m. at the UGA Golf Course on Thursday, May 8. The following day, tee times will be flopped and the top seeds will hit the course at 12:30 p.m. The top teams following the first 36 holes of play will tee off beginning at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 10.
THE LINEUP
• Sophomore Anita Gahir
• Senior Lauren Harling
• Sophomore Laura Nochta
• Senior Elaine Harris
• Sophomore Kellye Belcher
INDIANA AT THE NCAA REGIONAL
• The Hoosiers will be participating in their second-straight NCAA Regional under the direction of head coach Clint Wallman.
• Overall, IU has advanced to 14 regionals since the inception of the events in the 1992-93 season, with its best year coming in 1995. That season, the Hoosiers won the Big Ten title and tied for sixth at the NCAA East Regional, advancing to finish fifth at the NCAA Championships.
• Erika Wicoff finished first at the NCAA Regional in 1994.
• In 2007 the Hoosiers finished fourth at the NCAA Central Regional to advance to the NCAA Championships where they placed 24th.
2007 NCAA CENTRAL REGIONAL RECAP
• Junior Elaine Harris fired a 2-under-par 69 to lead the Hoosiers as the Indiana women's golf team qualified for its first NCAA Finals since 1998. IU wrapped up the NCAA Central Regional with a team total of 884 (289-295-300), good for a fourth place finish. It was the Hoosiers' best team total in an NCAA Regional.
• Harris finished the tournament with a total of 216 (72-75-69), good for a tie for seventh place. She wrapped up the tournament by recording birdies on four of the final six holes, including both the 17th and 18th, to lead the Cream and Crimson. Her 69 was the low round of the day for the tournament field.
• Following Harris was Lauren Harling, who carded a 1-over-72 in the final round to wrap up the event in a tie for 21st at 225 (76-77-72). She played a very steady round, making just two bogies and one birdie for her total as the first player from Indiana out on the day.
• At the same total and placement was Anita Gahir, who turned in an 84 on Saturday to go along with rounds of 70 and 71 earlier in the week.
• Kellye Belcher wrapped up her first NCAA Regional experience, along with the rest of her teammates, with a total of 226 (72-75-79). After struggling to a 7-over-43 on the front nine, Belcher, who shared 24th place at the Regional, regrouped and fired a 1-over-par 36 on the back to wrap up the day at 79. Classmate Laura Nochta finished the tournament with a share of 46th position with a 16-over total of 229 (75-74-80).
2008 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP
• Indiana posted its best finish ever under head coach Clint Wallman with a fourth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships, April 25-27 on the Penn State Blue Course.
• The Hoosiers carded rounds of 306-302-300-306 for a total of 1,214.
• Sophomore Anita Gahir led the way, finishing in a tie for 14th with a three-round total of 302, one spot higher that her 2007 finish.
• Sophomore Kellye Belcher had the low round of the tournament with a 73 in the third round and came in one stroke behind Gahir with a 15-over 303, tying for 16th.
• Sophomore Laura Nochta was steady throughout the tournament with three-straight rounds of 76 before closing out with a 77 to tie for 19th at 17 over (305).
• Senior Lauren Harling was also a top-25 finisher with an 18-over 306, finishing tied for 23rd. Harling finished the tournament with her two best rounds of 74 and 75.
• Senior Elaine Harris was 26 over (314) for the tournament to close out her Big Ten career with a tie for 38th.
• Rounding out the IU contingent was junior Amber Lindgren. Lindgren tied for 49th with a four-round total of 321 (+33).
GAHIR EARNS ALL-BIG TEN HONORS
• Sophomore Anita Gahir was named to the All-Big Ten second team, the league office announced on April 17.
• Gahir enters the NCAA postseason with a 76.00 stroke average and has two top-10 finishes and five top-25 finishes to her credit this season.
• She was the top IU finisher at the Big Ten Championships, finishing in a tie for 14th.
OWNING THE MOUNTAIN
• For the second-straight season, the IU women's golf team produced the medalist at the Mountain View Collegiate in Tucson, Ariz.
• In 2008, Lauren Harling picked up her first career win with a 215 for the one-stroke victor over Erica Moston of San Jose State.
• The 2007 tournament saw Elaine Harris take home top honors as she came into the clubhouse with a 7-under par total of 209, setting a new single-tournament scoring mark in the process.
• For the victorious Hoosiers, it was also the team's second-straight top-five finish at the event after placing third in 2007.
HARLING IS BIG TEN GOLFER OF THE WEEK...AGAIN
• For the second time in three weeks, Indiana University senior Lauren Harling was the Big Ten Women's Golfer of the Week, the league office announced April 2.
• Harling won the award after picking up her first career individual title with a 1-under 215 at the 54-hole Mountain View Collegiate in Tucson, Ariz. After an opening-round 73, Harling came back with a 2-under 70 in the second round and closed out with an even-par 72 on the final day.
• Her three-round total of 215 is a career best and gave IU its second-straight medalist at the Mountain View after Elaine Harris took top honors in 2007.
• Thanks to Harling's win and a career-best 68 in the third round from sophomore Anita Gahir, the Hoosiers picked up their first team victory since 2006 with a nine-stroke victory over San Jose State. IU's 880 team score in the second-lowest in school history.
• Harling picked up her first Big Ten honor on March 19.
• At the UNLV Spring Invitational, Harling carded a career-best 216 (E) over 54 holes, including a career-low round of 70 on the final day. She finished the tournament in a tie for 16th, also a career best since joining the program last spring.
• For the tournament Harling recorded nine birdies and 38 pars and saw her scores get progressively better with rounds of 74, 72 and 70. She is the only Hoosier golfer this season to finish a tournament at even par or better.
OUT OF THE GATES
• 2007 marked the first time the Hoosiers opened the fall with four-straight top-five finishes since the 2002-03 season.
• Overall this year Indiana has 10 top-10 finishes in 11 tournaments.
• Indiana is averaging a score of 304.45 per round, which if maintained through the spring would be the second-lowest average on record in school history.
• In 2006-07 Indiana finished no worse than 11th in any of its five fall tournaments. In 2007-08 the Hoosiers worst finish has been 11th at the UNLV Spring Invitational.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
• Indiana is No. 44 in the latest Golfweek poll released April 27.
• The Hoosiers are fourth among four Big Ten teams in the top 50, behind No. 6 Purdue, No. 17 Michigan State, and No. 41 Ohio State.
• Individual Rankings:
- Anita Gahir- 172
- Laura Nochta- 203
- Lauren Harling- 289
- Elaine Harris- 317
- Kellye Belcher- 319
- Amber Lindgren- 560
• In the latest GolfStat head-to-head standings released April 30, the Hoosiers hold the No. 53 spot.
Coach Wallman Scouts the Hoosiers:
On the play of sophomore Anita Gahir...
"She is an All-Big Ten player. She hit the ball extremely well at Penn State. She really just didn't make any putts, which was kind of frustrating for her. If she had made some putts, she would have put up some pretty incredible numbers. She had strong tee-to-green play and if we can get her rolling the ball in the bucket she could win this thing. She is that strong and is playing that well right now."
On the play of senior Lauren Harling...
"Lauren had a really solid tournament. I think being a senior and possibly playing her last rounds, there was an emotional component there. She really got after it the last three rounds and got progressively better and better. She even said this was her best tee-to-green tournament in a long time, and that takes into account her win in Arizona. She is hitting the ball well and putting it well. She had a really solid overall game and there are no glaring weaknesses. I expect her to play pretty well down in Georgia."
On the play of sophomore Kellye Belcher...
"Kelly really stepped up (at Penn State). She really didn't hit it that well, but she kept her game together which is a big improvement from earlier in the year. From a team perspective she gave us a score that was respectable that we could count. I think she is on the cusp of doing some really great things. It is just a matter of putting everything together."
On the play of sophomore Laura Nochta...
"To say she was consistent is an understatement. The neat part about that is that she didn't really play that well. She wasn't hitting it the way she wanted to hit it but kept it together and gave us a good solid round to post in all four rounds. With a little bit of work here in the next couple of days I think she will be ready to go. Her strengths are hitting at lot of fairways, a lot of greens and not hitting the ball out of play. Her misses were a little uncharacteristic, but on the flip side of that she really recovered well."
On the play of senior Elaine Harris...
"Elaine is hard to predict. Just when you think she is really struggling she comes back and does something very remarkable. In the second round she was seven over par going into the last hole and made eagle. She has come up pretty big at big times. At the Big Ten Championship her sophomore year she was leading the tournament until the very end. Last year at Regionals she played two reasonably good rounds and then birdied four of her last six holes to shoot 69. She just has this knack of showing up at the right time. And I know it is important for her to finish her career on her terms. She wants to go out knowing that she gave her best."
On the importance of qualifying for the Regional...
"From a recruiting standpoint, obviously, it is a big deal. My first two years we were not where we wanted to be but at that time we were really trying to lay the foundation for what we are experiencing right now. At lot of that was the team at the time...Elaine (Harris), Shannon Johnson, Bethany Brunner, Molly Redfearn; girls that did not get the opportunity to play in the regional but whose work is now being recognized. They are really a huge part of the success of this team. I think us getting into the regionals for the second season in a row really validates that the program is going in the right direction. That we are being competitive and last year was not a fluke or an anomaly. It was good play at the right time."
On his team's chances at the Regional...
"This is a three-round tournament and we are going to go and do our best and see what happens. I think they can do a really good job. I like this region and I like where they are at."
On playing the unfamiliar UGA course...
"I think it is a good thing, to be honest. When we were sitting in here for the selection we wanted to get in and if we had our choice we really wanted to go to Georgia because it is a course we have never seen. It a Robert Trent Jones course, it has elevation changes and greens with shelves which are things we are very familiar with. We just have to get the lay of the land. We play Robert Trent Jones/Alister MacKenzie courses quite well. I expect us to do well once we get the nuts and bolts of what the course's nuances are."
On the East Regional field...
"Anytime you get the chance to play with the defending national champions (Duke) that is fun. All the regions are solid. Looking at our region, it is a situation where we are just as good as a lot of the teams in there. We belong there. We played solid golf and I truly believe we will be in there at the end. Florida is good, and Georgia will be tough on its home course. For us there is a familiarity. We are in the same spot numerically (No. 17) as we were last year. Last year we played with UNC-Wilmington; this year we will play with UNC-Wilmington. We've played with Missouri a lot. I don't think there is an intimidation factor in anything. We are going to go out there and play our own game and take care of business."
On the team's excitement earning a Regional bid...
"I think it would be excited and relieved. They were really excited. Throughout the process we knew we were on the bubble so we had prepared for that. So they were really surprised and the fact that we were named to the East Regional was a surprise as well. We thought that if we were going to go that we would be in the Central. So when they read off our name everyone was shocked.
Players Mentioned
